TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The LSU Tigers open conference play on the road Saturday at Coleman Coliseum as they draw the Western Division favorites, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Alabama is ranked No. 18 in the AP poll entering the 6 p.m. contest which will be regionally televised on Fox’s SEC-TV package (Cable Channel 37 in Baton Rouge). The radio broadcast will be available on the LSU Sports Network and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
“Anything can happen when you go on the road, but it will be a tough game for us in a hostile environment and we have to be ready for that,” said LSU coach John Brady, who enters his fifth Southeastern Conference season. “We have to play at our best to have any chance, but if we do, we can be competitive. We will be back at full strength and that is good and hopefully we can put everything together.”
LSU’s Collis Temple III will be back in uniform Saturday after sitting out a second game this season against Nicholls State, the lingering result of his ankle sprain suffered in mid-December against McNeese State. Charlie Thompson, who suffered a cervical neck sprain against UNO on Dec. 18, will also be back in action for the first time since then.
The game features the SEC’s top two scorers from 2001. Alabama’s Rod Grizzard led the league all season in scoring up until the end ??? when LSU’s Ronald Dupree slid ahead of him. Dupree finished last year with a 17.3 points per game average, while Grizzard finished at 17.0.
This year, Dupree comes into conference play with a 16.1 scoring average, while Grizzard is averaging 14.7 points per game. Dupree has failed to crack double figures in two of the last three games. In Sunday’s win over Nicholls State, Dupree didn’t hit a field goal until the games final 10 minutes, but he did equal his career high for rebounds with 16.
The Tigers are 10-3, while the Tide is 12-2 under Coach Mark Gottfried who is in his fourth season at Alabama.
LSU will have Wednesday off after this game and will next play at the Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday, Jan. 13, when Arkansas comes to town in a game to be televised regionally by Jefferson Pilot Sports. The game time of either 12:30 or 3 p.m. will be announced on Monday once the National Football League television schedule has been determined.